Succession Planning
Intro The quickest way for something beautiful to crumble is to forget about it. It's not enough to create a vibrant community if it doesn't stand the test of time. The most successful communities aren't the ones that just have a good year or a really big event, they're the ones that have been around forever. And the key to that is succession planning. What is Succession Planning? In its simplest form Succession Planning is the ability for your club to continue after you leave. It's about making sure you have the right people over the next two to three years to ensure the community will continue to thrive. If you've set up a system where nothing would get done without you, and people aren't thinking for themselves, then the moment you walk out the door it will fall apart. This is a community that has been built to fail. A good example of succession planning is having the next Leader in place long before you leave, shadowing what you are doing and already running the show before you move on. The best succession plans distribute the roles across many points of leadership and empower teams to run things as a group rather than through a single person. That way is someone is sick or is about to leave, it doesn't matter because the group has been built to keep going no matter what. That's a community that has been built to succeed. Why is this important for your community? It is important for your community to have a succession plan because; # It ensures your community continues to thrive year on year # Allows a smoother handover of key positions # Allows your community to deliver better events, improving the experience and culture. The Kiwi Asian Club story The communities that everyone looks up to are the ones that last forever. Somehow they discovered a way to continue being awesome every year despite losing their senior leadership. It's like they found the magic formula and have been running with it. One of the best examples of this is the Kiwi Asian Club from the University of Auckland. They have been going for over 15 years. "At the time there were other social clubs on campus, but none of them really clicked with the original founders social group. So they just teamed up and started running the types of events they wanted. The type that fit their cultural background."says Jonathan. If you ask Jonathan, it's not a magic formula but rather an approach that has evolved over the years. One of the reasons for this is the way they select new committee members. The Potential Executive (P Exec) program is how future KAC committee members are selected. They go through selection, mentorship and voting stages before successful candidates are selected. "Every Semester 2 we open applications for the P Exec program, it's open to all club members but we also tap a few shoulders to try get sign ups rolling." explains Jonathan. "We then run workshops to go through how we operate events and run meetings, then the P Exects are split into groups, each with a current exec to guide them through as they run a few events for the club." Once the events have been hosted and the speeches completed, the club memebers and current execs vote for who they think is capable of joing the exec team next year. The votes are weighted with more weight being put on the exec team's votes. "We have a team of 8 execs every year. Depending on the number of positions available you get that many votes. We only replace a few positions each year depending who on the exec team needs to leave." CONTINUITY IS KEY By running this process every year, it ensures the club has a constant flow of willing and able volunteers to take over the club exec team. This helps the club maintain the quality of events and club leadership year after year. "I feel like the P Exec program is the main reason that KAC has been going strong for so many years." says Jonathan. "A strong exec team is the basis of the successful club." Even though lots of work and effort are required to be on the committee, it's all worth it to bond and connect with the community. For Jonathan and the current exec members it's all about giving back to the community that has provided them so much during their time at University. "We try to get to know all of our members by name, so that we are a part of the community and approachable. We try to find time to hang and talk with everyone as well." he says. "KAC really struck a chord with me. With the community, how nice the other members and execs were and the fun events they had. I ended up coming back again and again for each event and at the end of the year I came to realise I would really enjoy giving back and providing that same experience to new members like myself in my first year." How to Succession Plan The succession planning process can be broken down into five key steps. Step 1 - Examine your community's position This means taking a hard look around at where you are now. It can be easy to focus on what's going well or tunnel on what's not working right now. It's important to take a balanced view. Ask yourself these questions: * What is the purpose of your community and how do you fulfill this purpose? * What roles/people do you need to make it happen? * In your current committee who is going to be leaving soon? Step 2 - Identify roles to succession plan for When you start to crystalise a vision of what this looks like, the next step is to identify skills required to fill critical roles in your community. * What roles do you need to keep functioning? These are the ones you ensure the succession of first. As an example: President, Vice President, Events organiser, Treasurer, Social Media communications Step 3 - Identify the skills gap Once you've identified what you need, it's time to take a look at your current team and see what's missing. Just because there are two people working under your Events Organiser doesn't mean one of them can take over. You need to make sure the skills for the role are covered. Some questions to ask yourself: * What skills are needed for each role? * Do you have internal candidates that can take over? * What skills are you missing from the community right now? Step 4 - Identify potential successors Now you're armed with the information to start identifying who can take over. A good place to start is by reaching out to your club, explaining what you're looking for and the skills required. Not just asking for someone to raise their hand, but rather an outline of what you are looking for. Remember to keep an eye out during events, you might find some of the most engaged participants are good candidates or some of your existing committee members are overachieving. Step 5 - Document your succession plan There's no need for a complicated pile of documentation. But it is important to commit the plan to paper and have the leadership team aligned on it. What are the steps to get these people ready to take over? Point to someone on the list, if they had to take a 6 month leave of avsence starting tomorrow, would the next person on the list be ready to take over immediately? If the answer is no you need to work as a team to get them to a place where it's a yes. Then you have a solid succession plan. Common Issues Here are some common issues to look out for that make succession planning difficult: Leadership alignment * Not all Committee members are committed of the idea of succession planning and don't understand the benefits, which leads to a superficial approach. * Personalitites, egos or individual needs get in the way of decision making * The committee feel the need to succession plan is not immediate, leading to lots of talk and not a lot of action. Volunteers * Your succession plan involves too much administration and creates too much work for volunteers. * Volunteer promotions are based on tenure instead of competency or skill. Often volunteers who have been in the community a long time take on key positions without having the skill or knowledge to carry out the role successfully because committees feel they "deserve a go". * Community members are fearful of change * The community fails to provide adequate training and development for volunteers. * The community has limited volunteer base. Continuous improvement * You fail to continually review and improve the succession plan and/or * The community adopts a rigid and inflexible approach that is not tailored to specific needs of the club and individuals within it. Documentation * The club has poor record keeping, resulting in a succession plan that is not clear or well documented and that volunteers don't know exists. * Recruitment and appointment of volunteers to key positions is not transparent (i.e. clearly outlined/ documented and communicated to club members) and therefore becomes political.